Channel 4 menopause policy

You might want to read the C4 policy and others before coming out with such ill informed claims about what it actually means.

Interestingly, the most successful businesses in today’s world take a more proactive approach to attracting and maintaining good employees.

Business needs people who are reliable, productive and can be there as required. It does not need females who need to attend the bathroom every twenty minutes. So you have a hottie on? Live with it, work through it and get on with your job. I suffer myself but this kind of consideration has no place in business. I am not going to say I think it does. You cant hack it, let someone else have the job. Thats what economics and the workplace is about.

This is not special treatment, this is a reasonable adjustment in line with business need, just as with every other policy that organisations have.

They treat men and women equally where I work. You cannot ask for equality and them demand special consideration afterwards.

That’s so sad that you work for an organisation that treats women that way.

Of course, the good employers will take the same progressive approach for this non-compulsory policy enactment they take for maternity, paternity, sickness, flexible working and so on and will make whatever reasonable adjustments they can in order to keep attract and keep experienced staff, and their reputation for being that type of employer will mean people will want to work for them.

I am sorry to say this but the only adjustments I can see many employers making to accommodate menopausal women is not to employ them in the first place. Given so many women in that age group are often made redundant or unemployed and find it hard to get jobs, this seems to me to be yet another obstacle in their way.

Employers will think " fifty odd .... menopause..... no thanks , get someone else. They wont say that of course.

It might also be a means of putting pressure on women to take early retirement/ redundancy for the "efficiency of the business" is the term oft quoted. Not a good move at a time when women are being made to wait longer for their pensions.

Dont get me wrong. I am having an awful time but I would never tell my employer. That would be scrap heap list at first mention.

So much for the so-called sisterhood - women smugly proclaiming that THEY got through the menopause without any assistance so no other woman should get any! Some women have awful symptoms and some have none at all - help should be available for the former group without being embarrassed raising the subject! I'm on the fringe of menopause myself and I would hope the people around me would not be so dismissive as some of you have been. Not every woman can take HRT, which solves many problems, due to other health issues. Employers need to be aware of this and support women who need it through the menopause. Or should it still be a taboo subject, as it used to be, with women just suffering in silence? Why is it that some women do not wish other women to get support - just because it wasn't available when they went through the menopause? As with disability/sickness claims, the number of women "putting it on" would be tiny and well worth instigating workplace policies to help women who really need it.

I think you know what I mean Doodledog.

What an absolutely ridiculous suggestion Smileless. My employer would have been ringing 999 every couple of weeks. You obviously haven't tried standing in front of 30 teenagers, knowing that blood has begun to trickle down your legs, despite wearing two extra thick sanitary pads, and feeling so shaky and sweating profusely that you can't think and speak properly.

Women in that situation don't need to waste ambulance time.

(Sorry if that's too graphic for some!)

You have my sympathy, Sir Chenjin. My last job was as a lecturer, which obviously entailed being in front of students for hours at a time. During menopause, when I had flooding, it was horrible. It's really hard to concentrate when you are worrying about something like that, and however much 'protection' was in place, my mind was never at rest.

So many women have to go through this sort of thing, and I see no reason at all why they should be considered to be 'taking advantage'. The humiliation would have been awful.

TBH, I don't know what adjustments could have been made in my job; but in many occupations, they could, and it would make all the difference. At least I had a certain amount of control over the temperature, as I had my own office, and could open the windows and turn off the radiators; but during lectures, it was very difficult sometimes.

People in call centres, for instance, often have to have timed loo breaks, and in open plan offices, it is often the people who have been there longest who get the window seats. That sort of thing would cost nothing to put right, but could make work bearable for women. After all, the menopause is only at it's peak (for most of us) for a couple of years, which is very little out of a working life.

Alot of compassion and understanding on this forum. No one as I understand it is asking for special treatment. It just for reasonable adjustment. Im assuming if you needed some support it would be arranged through your line manager, no one need know. Its a true saying, there is no one harder on women than other women. Very true on here.

Oh really Smileless? When that happened to me I went home ‘sick’ after I had to explain quietly to my boss why I wasn’t able to attend our departmental meeting later that morning. I had to change my trousers and underwear when I got home (fortunately the blood did come out) and I scrubbed my office chair the next day when I returned to work. I’m now on HRT so no longer get the horrible sweats.

No 999 call was required.

Agreed, Hetty58. All that is being suggested is reasonable adjustments. What can people possibly have against that?

It's about time 'reasonable adjustments' were made! Yes, I struggled through, got on with it and 'coped' but I felt so ill at times. I'd like to think that my daughters and granddaughters won't have to!

Oh for goodness sake growstuff what a ridiculous post. If there was a member of staff with "sweat dripping down her face and a skirt stained with blood" dialling 999 for an ambulance would be the thing to do.

Great! So you'd be happy for somebody who faces the public in person all day to have sweat dripping down her face and a skirt stained with blood?

Not sure how this would work, not sure I agree with it. Just another excuse for some people to take advantage. My office is full of women of a certain age, so we can’t all go off to cool down, or have time off, so we do what most women do, and just get on with it.

Oh no Saggi - that sounds awful You’re absolutely right, it’s so lovely when workplaces take the time to check that their employees are doing ok. We’re so much more than automatons churning out work - there’s a person behind every employee and good workplaces recognise that and do what they can to help.

I’m going through the menopause at the moment and it’s not going well. HRT has enabled me to manage some symptoms but has caused other problems and I’m just about being driven demented with it all.

How are you coping now Saggi? (Sorry it's many years too late.)

I could have written a similar story, except I was a single parent and had to keep on working full-time. Random flooding and hot flushes really aren't much fun in a job, where you can't just leave your workspace to sort yourself out in the toilet. Lack of sleep is totally debilitating.

I believe in progress, and would definitely support policies that make life easier for my daughter's generation. Just because working life was difficult for women of my generation is no reason to continue in that way in the future.

I would imagine that if this ever became law (highly unlikely if we throw away the workers' rights that have been fought for decades) then a woman would require a doctor's certificate before she could have adjustments made.

I suffered greatly through menopause at a time when my husband had his stroke ...finished him with work forever...my son left home...my daughter was floundering. I had to go back to work 6 hours a day...the rest of time was spent nursing my 50 year old husband. Nobody noticed I was even going through this awful time...as I did not suffer hot flushes! not even my older sister!! I had to cope with night sweats which didn’t allow me more than 3 hours sleep a night ...excruciating pain...’flooding’ two weeks out of four.... all while NOT being paid if I took a sick day. Mine was only income as husband would not claim benefits! I would have given a years wage for somebody to just reach out to me and say “how are you coping” ...nobody did! It lasted 10 years!! I still sleep only 3-4 hours a night as still have night sweats... I’m still nursing my husband 24 years later. Life can’t get any better really can it!?!? What a wonderful idea ...somebody reaching out...because you never know what’s going on in peoples lives do you?

I’m or sure what you mean by have very punitive sick and working policies now - it’s actually the opposite compared to when I started working.

I’ve been a manager for 25 years now and always try and accommodate requests for flexible working etc according to business need. I tend to find that staff respond better to more progressive ways of working and in turn are more flexible and willing to go the extra mile. It’s all about making reasonable adjustments and keeping staff working productively, and that way you retain really good staff and their valuable experience.

I too am not in favour. I spent my working life dealing with various requests for working at home and adjustments for health and family issues. Most people do just go entitled on you and don’t meet you halfway. I too can see what with family responsibilities, health issues etc; this could mean that another category of employee will be unemployable. No wonder employers have very punitive sick and working policies now - there would be no one working when and where prescribed otherwise.

Not at all - reasonable adjustments extend to other areas not covered by existing Acts, eg allowing a change of working location. The link to the C4 policy sets out what reasonable adjustments could look like for menopausal women - all common sense and nothing to be afraid of or irritated by.

Sirchenjin I beg to differ.

Reasonable adjustments for those who consider themselves disabled with a condition are covered under the Equality Act 2010 so not simply a matter of policy.

It's up to the individual and his/her GP to justify a request for reasonable adjustments.

So, yes, a matter of policy but much more than simply that.

I'm not sure what a "reasonable" adjustment for a menopausal woman would look like though. A fan? Open windows?